Schomburgk, Robert Hermann b.June 5, 1804; Freyburg/Unstrut, Saxony d. March 11, 1865; Berlin-Schoneberg, Prussia
German English naturalist and explorer in British Guyana. Robert Schomburgk, a pastor’s son, traveled as commercial assistant to a firm from Leipzig to the United States in 1829, accompanying a herd of sheep.
In Richmond, Virginia, he tried his hand as a merchant and tobacco farmer; in 1830 he moved first to St. Thomas and then to the Virgin Islands and founded his own trading company. However, his interest in naturalism grew and he taught himself in the fields of botany, geology, hydrography, and topography. In 1832 he sent a map he had drawn of the island of Anegada, the coast of which was much feared by sailors, to the Royal Geographical Society in London, where his ability made a considerable impression.After he suggested a scientific survey of British Guyana, he was commissioned to survey the colony in 1834. Between 1835 and 1839 Schomburgk devoted himself to this task in three long journeys. He surveyed the coasts and the most important rivers (Essequibo, Rupununi, Corentyne, Berbice, Rio Branco), completed maps far superior to all previous surveys, and regularly reported on his expeditions in the Journal of the RGS (published in book form as Description of British Guiana, 1840; Views in the Interior of Guiana, 1841). On his second expedition in 1837 he came across the water lily “Victoria Regia,” which he named although it had already been discovered by Thaddaus Haenke in 1801; it is now Guyana’s national flower. After a brief visit to Europe, Schomburgk returned to Guyana late in 1840, this time accompanied by his brother, the botanist Richard Schomburgk (1811—1891). Together they explored the northwestern coastal region of the colony between Esse- quibo and Orinoco and the interior, including the highest mountain in the country, Roraima. With his exact latitudinal and longitudinal measurements and a dense network of barometric and temperature stations, Schomburgk established the foundations of the geographical knowledge of the country, which was valid long after his death.
Based on Schomburgk’s surveys, a demarcation line known as the “Schom- burgk-line” was established as the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela; this served as the basis for the exact delimitation of Guyana’s boundaries in the late nineteenth century.In 1844 Schomburgk was knighted for his achievements. In 1848 he was sent as British consul to Santo Domingo. Schom- burgk was also active in the Antilles, completed a comprehensive History of Barbados (1848), and surveyed the island of Hispaniola at a scale of 1:200,000. His last position was as British consul of Siam from 1857 to 1864.
Heinz Peter Brogiato
See also Haenke Thaddaus
References and Further Reading
Burnett, Graham. “Exploration, Performance, Alliance: Robert Schomburgk in British Guiana.” Caribbean Studies 15, nos. 1—2 (2000): 11-37.
Dam, Juul A. C. van. The Guyanan Plant Collections of Robert and Richard Schomburgk. Flora of the Guianas; suppl. series; fasc. 3. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, 2002.
Henze, Dietmar. Enzyklopadie der Entdecker und Erforscher der Erde. Vol. V. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 2004, pp. 78-84.